Millions of Americans enjoy camping and traveling as their preferred leisure time activity. A great number of these people choose to do so in recreational vehicles (RV's) that range in size from small pop-up campers that are designed to be towed behind a car or truck to large motorized RV's with integral engines. Most of these vehicles have a floor system that is several feet about ground level. As such, they must be accessed with a step system that provides at least one (1) step depending on the height of the vehicle entryway. However, hand rails are typically not provided. When hand rails are provided, they are typically only a small collapsible handle that may extend outward only a short distance. One (1) solution to this problem has been the use of attachable hand rails that adjacently mount to the steps of the vehicle. Typically these attachable hand rails also swing out when in use and fold away when not in use and are ordinarily unstable and come no where near the bottom of the steps, at grade level, where a conventional permanent stairway hand rail would be located. Thus, access for the elderly, disabled, and the like is extremely difficult and often times hazardous.
Various attempts have been made in the past to overcome these problems and provide hand rail assemblies. These attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,352, issued in the name of Evans, describes a foldable hand rail for a side entrance of a camper trailer. The Evans hand rail comprises a top end that is pivotally carried within a bracket that is mounted to the side of the camper. The hand rail swings up from a downwardly-hanging position to an outwardly inclined position during use and is supported by a pivotally mounted strut which is connected through the use of a throw arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,547, issued in the name of Osterholm, describes an apparatus and method for a collapsible hand rail for mounting on a wall structure adjacent to a doorway. The Osterholm apparatus comprises a plurality of mounting fixtures to which a hand rail structure is pivotally connected and a bracing bar that is connected between the wall structure and a post member of the hand rail structure and further comprises a collapsed position and an extended position.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,572, issued in the name of Lehr, describes a retractable, telescoping hand rail for recreational vehicles that extends or retracts for use with the retractable stairs of the vehicle are extended or retracted. The Lehr hand rail comprises an upper rail that is pivotally attached to an outer wall of the vehicle on one end and a lower rail that is pivotally attached to the stairs of the vehicle on one (1) end. The unattached ends of the upper rail and the lower rail are telescopingly engaged enabling the lower rail to extend downward and outward from the upper rail for use by a person entering the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,468, issued in the name of Marshall et al., describes a hand rail and bracket assembly that comprises a pair of wall-mounted brackets having two (2) off-set channels that receive the hand rail.
Additional relevant attempts to address these problems can be seen by reference to several other U.S. patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,261,550, issued in the name of Gregory, which describes a foldable hand rail structure; 5,024,420, issued in the name of Downing, which describes a foldable hand rail assembly; 5,116,025, issued in the name of Kiniry, which describes a cantilevered, retractable hand rail; and 7,007,366, issued in the name of Eby, which describes a method for installing a foldaway hand rail to a vehicle.
Additionally, ornamental designs for hand rails exist, particularly, U.S. Pat. Nos. D 374,581 and D 509,905. However, none of these designs are similar to the present invention.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffers from the one (1) or more of the common disadvantages of most attachable hand rails, which includes complex mechanical mounting assemblies, a lack of suitable stability to a user, and a deficiency in size to provide support to and from ground level. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which safe and easy hand rail support for recreational vehicle steps can be provided. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.